Pentwater Pride Past • Present • Promised!

S P R I N G N E W S L E T T E R S P R I N G 2 0 1 2

The Propeller Ship Mary Stewart

Lost in the Pentwater Channel

•1866 •By Ed Bigelow

Illustration of Ship By Fred Seaman

ot only were many ships lost at sea to Lake Michigan in the 1800’s and early 1900‘s,

but some ships suffered their demise in what you might consider safer har-bors! This is the story of a ship owned by Charles Mears, a well known ear-ly Pentwater pioneer. The Oceana Times, a forerunner of the Pentwater News had this to say about the loss of the propeller ship Mary Stewart. Wrecked --- Last Sunday morning, as the propeller “Mary Stewart” was leaving the bridge pier at the mouth of the river she struck the bar; which caused her steam pipe to burst, and totally disabling her. The sea making very rapidly at the time, and the wind blowing very fresh from the north west, it was but a short time before she was completely lodged upon the bar; exposing the larboard side to the mercy of the monstrous waves; which at times washed clear over her. It being apparent that everything on board would soon become the prey of the water. Capt. Dodge and his crew worked faithfully until they had stripped her of everything valuable, with exception of

the machinery. She lies on the bar her whole length, broken in two at several places, and is a total wreck. The Stewart was 11 years old, owned by Mr. C. Mears, and is insured for $8,000. The Oceana Times, November 16, 1866 Vol. 6.Now that you know about the loss of this fine propeller ship, let’s delve deeper into her story. According to an article in the Mari-time History of the Great Lakes as written in December 1, 1854, they describe the origination of the propeller ship Mary Stewart.

To accept, protect, preserve and

present items and artifacts of local historical interest and significance.

Mission Statement of the Pentwater Historical Society

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Continued on Page 2

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In the article is a description of visiting and examining the ships’ hull at that time belonging to the firm of J. L. Hurd & Co. It had just been built by Mr. John E. Dixon of Newport. The new vessel is to be named the Mary Stewart and is intended to run in the northshore line of propellers.

Further, the article states “Her model is beautiful, being as sharp as the bows of a clipper, with a run aft like a steam-boat. She presents the appearance of being one of the strongest hulls that has ever been put on the lakes, her tim-bers being of the best material, and be-ing thoroughly put together. As she lies now, she presents as handsome and well finished a piece of naval ar-chitecture as any that has been seen at these docks.” The article also states that “Mr. Dixon is ready to lay the keel for another large propeller ship for the Charles Mears firm. This ship will be named the “Old Concord” and should be ready for service in July 1856.

The MARY STEWART is 160 feet long and 27 feet 4 inches beam. Her depth of hold is 10 and a half feet. She is calculated to carry 500 tons burthen, or 4,500 barrels of flour. She is driven by a single square engine with a cyl-inder of 40 inches by 28 inches and a shaft of wrought iron measuring 9 and a half inches diameter. Her wheel will be 13 feet (sic) in diameter. The ships’ boiler is 18 feet long, 8 feet diameter and has seven large direct flues, and 126 ¾ inch return flues being 12 feet long; and is capable of carrying 120 lbs. of steam to the square inch.” The origi-nal captain of the Mary Stewart was Henry Watts.There are varying accounts about the loss of this ship and they make for in-teresting reading and put into question how reliable news stories may be:The Detroit Free Press on December

23, 1866 reported: “On October 22, propeller Mary Stewart a total wreck at Grand Haven after eleven years of service.”Buffalo Commercial Advertiser report-ed February 26, 1867: “MARY STEW-ART Prop., ashore at Pentwater. East shore, Total loss, November 1866.”Marine Casualties on the Great Lakes 1863 -1872 U. S. Coast Guard: “MAR-RY STEWART Propeller of 442 Tons, owned at Detroit. Bound from Chicago to Grand Haven, November 1866. Total loss. Loss to ship $6,000

insurance $3,500.Lytle Holdcamer List 1790 to 1866 reported: “MARY STEWART Prop. of 442 Tons, built 1855 at Newport, Mich., stranded at Pentwater, Lake Michigan November 11, 1866. No lives lost, but vessel a total loss.”Erie 3 Daily Dispatch on Wednesday, November 20, 1867 reported: “The ac-cident to the schooner DAN SICK-LES was caused by running on the wreck of the old propeller ship MARY STEWART at Pentwater.”Chicago Tribune on Friday, August 28 1868 reported: “We understand that the wreck of the old propeller MARY STEWART is about to be removed from Pentwater Harbor, lying as it does, right in the middle of the chan-nel, it is a serious obstruction, and it’s speedy removal cannot but prove ben-eficial to the interest of Pentwater, as well as that of the vessels.”

(Continued on page 8)

ABOVE: Jack shows the last remains of the Mary Steward.LEFT: Big iron drift pins, spikes and square nails held wooden ships together.

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id you ever hoist a sail on an old time working boat? Shipping was vital to Pentwater for more than half a century. In the 1870’s all of those ships were pow-

ered by sail. Pentwater shipped millions of board feet of lumber during that decade and sails were hoisted to move every board, every foot of the way to their destination. To-day’s sailors use modern high tech rope, designed to withstand the assaults of sun and weather. What type of rope do you think was used on vessels moving goods to and from our fair port more than a century ago? Do you suppose the rope used on work-ing boats in the past was as thin and smooth as the rope used today? How was it protected from the weather? By now, the sailors among our readers are having a coronary! The term “rope” is never used on a sailboat. Sailors refer to “line” as a generic and use terms such as halyard, sheet, or hawser to define the task performed. However, to non-sail-ors, it all looks like rope.

We have been offered a collection of wooden pulleys. They did not come from Pentwater, in fact they have nothing to do with Pentwater, or do they? Shipping to and from Pentwater for the last half of the nineteenth century and well into the twentieth century depended on sailing craft. Most of these vessels used wooden pulleys to make the work load easier, including hoisting the sails! Our new museum has enough ceiling space to allow us to create, as part of a shipping ex-hibit, a hands-on display providing visitors to the museum an opportunity to hoist a sail, using the wooden pulleys com-mon to ships visiting Pentwater one hundred and thirty years ago. Of course we would use a hemp line to lift and lower the sail, through the wooden pulleys. However, we will not “tar” the line as was done in days gone by. After all, ours won’t be exposed to the weather. How many museums allow visitors to raise and lower a sail through wooden pulleys using hemp line? We would be unique!

Is there a way to get future Pentwater students involved with the museum to interact with our exhibits? Our museum will become a gathering place for students. The curriculum of several grade levels would be enhanced by a visit to our new museum. Is there a way to involve students in more than just a visit to the museum? If the present is a barometer for

the future, then absolutely, yes. The Historical Society is currently working with students to put our collection in a digital format. We are also working with the VFW on a

project involving the school. What if students in the future produce a short video about each of

our exhibits? Videos would be displayed on a viewer as part of the exhibit. Over

time, students would create new vid-eos as both new technology and new information become available. We want our museum to be a gather-ing place for the community. In-teracting with students helps to achieve that goal.

What if students had input into our website? Their refreshing ap-

proach, and technical skills, would help us build features into our web-

site that advertise our new museum and inform website visitors about our his-

tory as well. The website would help us attract visitors to our community and make our new museum a destination point.

Have you shared your visions for our new museum with us? You can, by contacting us at PHS, PO. Box 54, Pent-water 49449 or by e-mail to the address on our website.

https://pentwaterhistoricalsociety.org.You can also speak to any member of the Board of Directors or the Museum Relocation Committee.

FUND RAISING UPDATEOur funds are growing! We are approaching $100,000.00 toward our goal of $225,000.00. Our target date is August 24, 2012. We still have some work to do. Currently, forty percent of our members have contributed towards our new museum. If you have given your personal limit, we thank you for your generous support. If not, please do so TODAY.

Although we have received a number of Patron Level do-nations and will be making contact with other potential patron donors as spring brings them back to Pentwater, your help is essential. We have set the Ruby Level of con-tribution as the goal for our members. Now is the time to step up to the plate. Make that your goal and use your in-fluence to persuade others to do the same. Together we can make this work!

Visions Of Our New MuseumTo be unique. To be a gathering place. To become a destination point.

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Lake Michigan LeveL Patrons $40,000

charLes Mears LeveL Patrons $20,000

Pentwater Lake LeveL Patrons $10,000

Pentwater Dunes LeveL Patrons $5,000

Jean Russell & Robert ChildersDolores Samuel

Pentwater oak LeveL Patrons $1,000Jim and Pat Alfredson

Charles Bigelow Mary Ann Combs

Herbert and Nancy Greenfield David and Anne Kirkland Kenneth & Linda Martin

Pentwater Junior Women’s Club Milton Pugsley

Norman & Ronda Shotwell Richard & Sylvia Wagner

DiaMonD LeveL Patrons $800 Pentwater Service Club

ruby LeveL Patrons $400Anonymous

Carolyn B. Augustine Roger and Ruth Bailey William & Gail Bluhm

Theodore & Joan Cuchna Dan & Teri Filius

Lynne and Tom Hicks Dan & Beverly Kelly

Donna Kolinger Kenneth & Georgia Lites

Anthony & Kareen Monton Rhea Murry

Bill & Sharon O’Donnell Jim & Yvonne Reinsch

Quintus & Donna Renshaw John & Mary Rosebrough

Oliver Stanchfield Jerry and Sheryl Wygant

goLD LeveL Patrons $200 Philip and Nancy Ceton

Equipment Rentals & Service L.L.C. Raymond & Sheryl Kloostra

Ken and Charlotte Lindstrom Francis and Donna Mills

Sam & Jane Morrison

Mary G. Mullen Red Wing Service & Supply Suzanne & George Richey

Gene and Nancy Tosch Arthur L. Walker

Irene Zaik Gail Zink & Norman Booth

Robert and Greta McKeough

siLver LeveL Patrons $100 Mary and Harold Bannasch

Bruce Bates Gay Birchard

Michael & Susan Castor Terry Coburn

Kathleen B. Cox Jon P. Daly

Dorothy Davis Caroline Denlar

Ken & Barbara Duncan Paula DeGregorio & Frank Galante

Frank & Julie Earman Linda Eisenlohr

Linda Ferens Harriet Fitzsimmons

Dean & Maureen Gustafson Hill & Hollow Campground

Jean James & Catherine Lacroix Elizabeth Kiefer

Amy LaBarge & Ronald Beeber Thomas & Heather Lord

Ludington Beverage Company William & Karen Maxwell

Jim & Jane McKevitt Gretha Moak

Janet F. Nelson Robert & Karen O’Neil Dick & Sally Ouweneel

Mr. & Mrs. Page Juanita Pierman Bob & Joan Rensi

Carl & Beverly Ringwald Mary Sue Rischr

James & Lynn Roe David & Susan Rose

Lowa Rudman Gordon Sanders & Rich Ringwald Corallee Samuelson & Rise Rasch

Patricia Saunders Charles & Diane Smith

Don & Doris Thompson

One Hundred Thousand Dollars

and Counting!We have a total of $100,000.00 from all sources to help us reach our goal. Our vision is to create a museum that is a gathering place for our community, a destination point for visitor and will tetll our story in our own unique way.Membership CampaignWe need to show potential patron level donators that our membership is contributing a significant amount toward this project so we encourage every society member to contribute $400 which will bring us close to our goal in just a couple of months! Make your contribution in install-ments or by credit card.

Public CampaignTake a look at the Donation Sta-tions throughout the Village where you’ll see a brief explanation of this project. Then pick up the donation envelope and make a donation. The museum project is also making grant applications to appropriate organizations in both the private and public sector.

Patron CampaignWe are contacting individuals and organizations who have resources to make a donation. Presentations will be made this spring and summer to those individuals and organizations. We are pleased to report several do-nations at the patron level.

Membership InputYour comments, your feedback, and your suggestions are welcome! Contact our President or drop us a line at P.H.S., P.O. Box 54, Pentwater, MI, 49449 or email at the address on our website (https://pentwa-terhistoricalsociety.org).

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Ann Tierney Doug & Linda VanGills

Sylvia & Richard Wagner Doug and Linda VanGills

Karen Way & Steven Brower Newell W. Wright

S. Willis & Nancy Wright Cynthia Wrisley

Timothy & Judith Zaunbrecher Judith A. Nadeau-Zerr

supporting contributors Shirley M. Anthony

Sally Barsely Sharon Bluhm

Karen Bolt Richard Bonine

Lee Brower Ellen brown

Elizabeth Browning Ruth Bruce

Pamela E. Buckleither Cyndy Callog

Laurence L. Christensen Carriage House Antique Mall

E. William Corr Sharah Champagene Marjorie DiPangrazio

Brian Dietrich Alvin & Joyce Docter

Lois Donohue Norma Eckloff

Nick & Linda Fekken Ilene Fox

John W. Fox Milton Fox

Alan Glover Judith & Terry Grace

Jane Griener Roy & Eileen Griffis

Mr. & Mrs. Gerald M. Hamm Chris Hansen Carolyn E. Hill

Richard & Carole Hooper Patrick & Diana Hooyman

Diana Hooyman Donald & Lou Hutchinson

Edward & Jill Iteen John & Cynthia Jedd Alto & Sheree Kelly

Robert & Barbara Kunsky

Here’s how you can make a contribution to

the Building Fund:•By sending a check made out to

“Pentwater Historical Society”. Indicate Building Fund on the memo line.

Mail check to: Pentwater Historical Society P.O. Box 54, Pentwater MI, 49449

OR give it to any PHS board member.

•By Credit Card. Visit the Community Foundation for Oceana County Web Site at: https://www.cffmc.org/give/online-giving

Locate the Pentwater Historical Society Building Fund account, complete the form and click on the “Donate” tab.

The screen will allow you to chose beween: •General Gift •Memorial Gift or •Honorary Gift

In the “Specific Fund” area you can type in Pentwater H (at this point the box will display the name of our fund) OR move the curser down to the box and scroll to the fund name “Pentwa-ter Historical Society Building Fund” in either case you must click on the fund name. It will appear right below to confirm that you have selected the correct fund.

Complete the rest of the form and click on “Donate”

•Check out our web site at: https://pentwaterhistoricalsociety.org Click on the link and follow the instructions for “Credit Card” in the column to the left. The Historical Society may also accept donations of stocks, bonds, real estate, and property. However, the Society reserves the right to accept all gifts.

Ted & Maggie Lascari Terence and Catherine Mahoney

Mark Margo Charles Mayeux Pat McGowan Elinor Miller

Doug & Julie Nelson Bennie & Mary Naumann David & Lucy Ordoobadi

Richard & Carol Page Gladys Panis

Richard & Susan Patterson Tom & Cindy Ringwald Tommy & Victoria Scott

Margaret W. Sigerich Tony & Pam Sisson

Squire Children Ron and Marilyn Steiner Lewis & Betty Stenberg

Greg Stutes Shirley & Nena Stutes

Arthur Susan Jane A. Verduin &

Dr. Craig K. Matheson Veterans Ladies Club Roger & Joyce Walser

Funding Goal $225,000

Fund balance $100,000

Balance To Go $125,00

All Members are encouraged to join in this Funding Project

and Make It Happen!!!Pentwater Historical

Society Board of Directors

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T By David Roseman and Charles Bigelow his article contains information obtained during

the course of investigating dredging in the channel that connects Pentwater Lake with Lake Michigan.

It is not an exhaustive review of the subject, but does offer some perspective about the current problem of navigation in the channel caused by shoaling. It is submitted now because of the need for attention to the channel’s problems. You can find more details and photos at http://pentwaterchan-nel.org. Boat traffic in the channel is extremely important to the economic health of our community. It supports the fishing community, and brings boats, guests, shoppers, and potential residents to Pentwater. Inability to use it would adversely affect life in the entire Pentwater area, and would almost certainly decrease property values and tax revenues.

(Continued on page 9.)

A Brief History of Pentwater’s Channel

PHOTOS: Just outside the Pentwater piers a modern dredger is working to deepen the channel by sucking up sand mixed with water and pumping it down a pipe where it gushes out on the Mears State Park Beach.

Sand, like water, is a wonderful thing until it gets into the wrong place.

Here are three recent changes that have been spotted in the Village:

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Become a SPOTTER!You can help the Historical Society record the changes to our community

Used and broken mono-filament fishing line

should never be left on land or water. Gather it up and place it in the new and convenient col-lection stations located around Pentwater lake and the channel.

House on 2nd street destroyed by fire.

Pentwater Historical Society invites you to be a P. H. S. Spotter. Take your camera and record changes of buildings, bridges, houses, stores and property etc.. Drop off photos with a brief note to board members or send to: Pentwater Historical Society. P. O. Box 54, Pentwater, MI 49449.Your participation will assist the Pentwater Historical Society to develop and maintain the pictorial history for our museum for everyone to view and enjoy!

Thanks to member Nancy Grant for presenting this excellent concept for our society at the Board of Directors meeting on April 4, 2012.

1 New Charles Mears State Park Playground installation.

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Other than being an interesting bit of histori-cal information you may be wondering ok, I got it and nice to know. Well there is more to this story, so read on! You may recall that in 1998, the U. S. Corps of Engineers began a several year project to upgrade the Pent-water Harbor Piers. This project lasted into 2002, before completing both piers from Pentwater Lake mouth out into Lake Michigan. While working on the South Pier in 1998, work was halted temporarily as wreck-age from an old ship was found lodged under the pier. After investigation the wreckage, the Pentwater Historical Society was able to secure large pieces of the Mary Stewart’s timber beams along with various iron hardware such as large 7 inch iron spike nails and long iron fastening rods referred to as trunnions; varying in length up to 18 inches by ¾ inch diameter. Artifact pictures are included with this article.According to Jack Patterson, the Mary Stew-art’s remains were moved from the channel by Andy Todd and taken to Patterson Marine Ser-vice. Later they were moved to the Pentwater DPW yard to make room for pending build-ing construction at Patterson Marine Service. In April of this year village manager Jim Miller requested that we move these artifacts because of pending construction for the new sanitary system at the DPW location. The Mary Stew-art artifacts are once again located at Patterson Marine Service Inc. thanks to the fine coopera-tion of Jack Patterson and his interest in help-ing the society preserve these one-of-a-kind artifacts. Our current plans are to safeguard these artifacts and eventually display some of them in our new museum. We have one timber on display in the current museum as shown in the photo to the right. At the local morning coffee shop, I talked with Frode Maaseidvaag who is most knowledgeable on old ship construction, along with Tom Sturr and Jack Patterson; all having knowledge of ship construction. It appears that the wooden timbers the society has, may well be lateral cross beams, called floor timbers, that were located in the lower level of the ships hull and into which the lower decking was fastened by the spike

ED BIGELOW President

PENTWATER HISTORICAL SOCIETY

type nails shown in the photo on page 2. By the way, Frode has a beautiful twenty three foot Norwegian Lapstrake Launch that has

a similar construction but uses wooden pegs for fastening the wooden hull to the ribs and floor timbers, rather than iron as used in the Mary Stewart. Keep your eye out for Frode’s launch motoring out for the sunset during the summer, as

it is a unique vessel unlike most you will see going in and out of Pentwater harbor!In the “Olden Days”, the quaint village of Pentwater was a very important Lake Michi-gan port for shipping commerce. How excit-ing it must have been to see the many differ-ent types of ships including large schooners, lumber scows, wooden steamers, propeller ships, tugs and more. . . all coming and going from our harbor! Just think of all the prod-ucts being shipped from Pentwater, virgin pine board lumber and roof shingles heading for Chicago, furniture, bricks, produce and on and on! In the mid to late 1800’s no one had ever heard or even thought about a net-work of super highways that would eventu-ally eliminate ships as the major way to move

goods to other places. Come, visit our museum, and learn much more about the vibrant history of Pent-water. Your time spent in the museum will give you a good awareness of Pent-water village as it has over time come to be one of the finest places you will find. Pentwater has friendly people, a

great civic disposition and a delightful harbor where in 2012, we have a continuing tradition of boating traffic that is still very exciting to experience and enjoy!

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These piers are about seventy feet apart at the inner end, and about one hundred and ten feet at the lake end. The depth of water between the piers varies from two to six feet.”

By about 1914, the harbor was again in trouble. In 1917, the harbor was abandoned by the Federal Government af-ter spending $346,503 of Federal funds on maintenance and improvements to harbor. By 1919, shipping tonnage was down to 2,993 tons. This contrasted with an annual

tonnage of 87,000 (mostly lumber) prior to the turn of the century.According to an unnamed newspaper clipping dated “4-26-21” (from the Historical Society ar-chives) “So far as the United States Government is concerned, its Pentwater project has been abandoned, and the harbor facilities are being allowed slowly to go ruin. The government en-gineers have reported adversely to proposals of further development or maintenance and the result is that no more federal appropriations are available for the port. Abandonment, of course, means ruin.”

At that time, boat lines were said to have ceased operations here 7 years earlier, and only the smaller fishing craft could enter the harbor. The

cost of annual maintenance then was $2,000, said to be unaffordable by the Village. In October 1930 the package [sic] freighter, “South Shore” with Master John Nehring of Two Rivers, WI, was grounded on the bar at the mouth of the channel. She was freed by the Coast Guard, but was only able to load 300 of the scheduled 1000 bushels of apples.

In 1931, the Federal Government dredged 23,000 cubic feet [851 cubic yards] to make Pentwater a Port of Refuge. The local paper said that “Nothing more promising to the future of Pentwater has occurred in recent years than the arrival in the channel last week of the U. S. Government dredge, ‘Tompkins. “ Dredging by the Federal Government resumed in 1933. The Federal government in 1937-1938 carried out major reconstruction. The photo in this article was taken at that time. We do not know the history from 1938 to 1963. Between 1963 and 2009, the channel and the mouth into Lake Michigan were dredged 46 times, with a total amount of 975,280 cubic yards at a total cost of $3,045,866.

Presently the minimum depth at the mouth of the channel is approximately 7 feet which is considerably less than the

(Continued on page 11

Reconstruction of the channel including dreging by this machine took place in 1938.

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The present location of the channel was the result of Charles Mears’ desire to ship lumber and other goods from Pentwa-ter. The original channel was a “narrow meandering stream through sand dunes to Lake Michigan about one half mile north of the present channel.” Charles Mears supervised closing the old outlet and creating a new direct cut to Lake Michigan. Men and teams of horses used scoops to dig the new channel. The spring waters from 1858 - 1859 helped deepen the channel. Long wooden docks were built into

Lake Michigan to accommodate ships for loading and un-loading. The steamer DAYLITE became the first large ves-sel to navigate through the channel into Pentwater Lake. Lake Michigan’s winds and waves constantly deposit sand in the channel making navigation hazardous, if not impos-sible, and has required dredging almost every year for at least 30 years. At times it has been as shallow as 2 feet, once in 1867 and again in 1921. In the past, the dredg-ing has been funded by the Federal Government; however, their funding for maintaining the harbor has gone through cycles of ebb and flow. This source of funding has survived budget cuts for the past several years: but it now seems very unlikely that they will be available this year, and is very uncertain that it will be available any time in the future. To address this issue, a group of Pentwater area citizens is working to determine the extent of the problem, and to generate some of the funds for the dredging. Prior to 1867, the harbor was maintained by special taxes voted on and paid for by property owners. The status of the harbor is detailed in the report of the 1867 Congress. “The present improvements at this harbor were made by private enterprise, and consist of piers made of slabs, with a wharf of piles, 560 feet in length, extend-ing out into the lake on a prolongation with the north pier.

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s I sit here in my palatial corner office of the Pentwa-ter Historical Society office high above the busy streets of our fair city the telegraph starts

clicking away most furiously. I think, ‘This ought to be good because you are disturbing my afternoon nap.’ I arise

from my comfortable chair and walk over to see what the im-portant message is.

NEWS FLASH! January 29, 1900 Pentwater Historical Society, Lansing Legislative News

Office.This startling news has just been released from our state legislature. A bill is proposed in the legislature to place

a license on fishing and hunting in our state of $1.00 for fish-ing and $2.00 for hunting.

Now when the kids of Pentwater or any of the older people shoul-der their five-cent cane poles and go down to the piers for the purpose

of catching a mess of perch for dinner, it is evident they are having to much fun – they ought to pay for it. When O. F. Wickham or D.D. Alton or Chas Nickerson or any of the other fishermen of Pent-water like our former mayor Ed Bigelow or Milt Pugsley get

20011-2012 OFFICERS & TRUSTEES OF THE PENTWATER HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Ed Bigelow William O’Donnell Jim Alfredson Mike Castor President V-President Secretary Treasurer

TRUSTEES: Roger Bailey, Myrna Carlin and Bob Childers

MEMBERSHIP CHAIRWOMAN: Karen Way

NEWSLETTER COMMITTEE Jim Pikaart Bruce Bates Layout/Design Photo Editor

DUES ARE DUEMembership dues for the 2011-2012 year were due Sep-tember 1, 2011. If you see “11”, or an earlier year follow-ing you name on the mailing label, it is time to renew your membership. The dues amounts are shown on the Membership Application form on the last page of the newsletter. Please send your check to the Pentwater Historical Society at P.O. Box 54, Pentwater MI 49449

NEW ANNUAL MEMBERS Debbie & George Brown Robert & Carol Cornelisen

NEW LIFE MEMBERS Nick & Lisa Daly Arron & Alison Eichenberg Cheryl Highland Anne & David Kirkland

DEATHS John “Jack” Webber Gerald Massa

PATRONS Anne & David Kirkland

MEMORIAL DONATIONS From:

In Memory Of:John ( Jack) Webber

Catherine & Terence Mahoney

Mr. Mrs. Mark Margo Elinor Miller

Mr. Mrs. Bryan Ogdon Lowa Rudman

Margaret W. Sigerich Roger & Joyce Walser

Ed Bigelow Karen Bolt

Phil & Nancy Ceton E. William Corr

Mr. Mrs. Brian Dietrich Terry & Judith Grace

Mr. Mrs. Chris Hansen Dan & Beverley Kelly

From: Robert & Greta

MacKeough In Memory of: Joan M. Koch

From: Gene & Nancy Tosch

In Memory of: Helen Cluchey

up at 12 ½ o’clock in

the morning, prowl around

among 25 or 30 miles of under-

brush and mosqui-toes, and return under

the cover of the following night with a couple or three

speckled trout stories, they ought to be willing to put up a

dollar apiece for the sport. Ditto the man who wades through snow

all day for the sake of bringing home a few quail feathers or a bunch of rabbit

fur. Fair citizens of Pentwater, this is an outrage! Let’s have a license on hunting and

fishing and any other fun activities we pursue. I ask you, fellow citizens of Pentwater, will the

Legislature ever stop putting taxes and licenses of our fair citizens? What is next? Will the legisla-

ture make me pay a license to operate my new 1899 Oldsmobile motor carriage upon our streets? Will there also be a tax or license on the horses and wagons that ply our streets everyday?

ABOB’S

CORNER

(by Bob,

of co

urse)

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FUTURE EVENTS SUMMER DINNER &

MEETING Wed. Aug. 22, 2012

results produced by the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers dredging. The current depth was determined by work of the local group, and by US Army Corps of Engineer’s sound-ings. Given the long history of shoaling and dredging, inaction will almost certainly lead to increasing navigation difficulties. It will be interesting to see whether our generation is able to cope with this important problem. A group of Pentwater area citizens have organized a fund to help solve this year’s problems.

If you wish to join them, your contributions can be made online through The Commu-nity Foundation for Oceana County. Go to: https://cffmc.org//give/online-giving?f=3676Alternatively, make your check out to “Community Foundation for Oceana County” with a memo of “Protect Pent-water Harbor Fund” and mail it to:

Protect Pentwater Harbor Fund The Community Foundation

for Oceana County P.O. Box 367

Shelby, MI 49445

The Community Foundation for Oceana County

is a Section 501(c)(3) Organization. Contributions should qualify as deductions for Federal taxes. Enjoy this social and

educational event at the Pentwater VFW Hall

ONLY $13.00

TICKETS ON SALE AT:•society officers •Durand’s wine shop

•the Pentwater township Library

U S E T H I S F O R M T O B E C O M E A M E M B E R O F T H E P E N T W A T E R H I S T O R I C A L S O C I E T Y HOME ADDRESS SUMMER ADDRESS From To

NAME NAME

ADDRESS ADDRESS

CITY STATE ZIP CITY STATE ZIP

PHONE PHONE

T Y P E O F •Patron $500* •Life $125* •Sustaining $40* STATUS:

New MEMBERSHIP: •Annual $10* •Student $3 ( * Includes Spouse)

Renewal

Would you like to be contacted to participate in society activities? If so, your area of interest is:

PLEASE MAKE CHECK OR MONEY ORDER TO: AUTHORIZED The Pentwater Historical Society, P.O. Box 54, Pentwater, MI 49449 SIGNATURE

PENTWATER HISTORICAL

SOCIETY P. O. BOX 54,

PENTWATER,

MICHIGAN 49449

BECOME A CONTRIBUTOR TO THE NEW HOME OF THE HISTORICAL SOCIETY TODAY!

$100,000 Dollars and Counting!Our funds are over $100,000.00 toward our goal of $225,000.00.

Many of our members have contributed towards our new museum. Now is the time for you to contribute your generous support! See page 5 to find out a couple of ways to make your generous donation! (And don’t forget to encourage others to join in this effort.)